Expeditionary Center nominated for 2009 Frank G. Brewer trophy Published June 16, 2010 By Staff Sgt. Zachary Wilson U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center JOINT BASE McGURE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Air Mobility Command officials announced the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center as the major command's nominee for the 2009 Frank G. Brewer trophy this week. The nomination for the Brewer trophy, honoring the Center's faculty and support staff, is awarded annually to the organization or individual who makes the most significant contribution of enduring value to aerospace education in the United States. The Center will now compete against other nominees across the nation to attempt to seal its status as a leader in training and education for all Airmen, according to officials here. "The entire team at the United States Air Force Expeditionary Center can take great pride in its selection as it represents Air Mobility Command in this completion," said Gen. Raymond E. Johns, AMC commander in a message to AMC Airmen announcing the EC as AMC's nominee. "The (EC) makes great contributions to both Air Mobility Command and the Global War on Terrorism by producing the most highly qualified personnel for the mobility air forces. The school continues to shine as a center of excellence that provides the highest quality education and training to its graduates and equips them to make a critical impact on both (AMC) and the Air Force." Brig. Gen. Rick Devereaux, the Expeditionary Center commander, said, "This nomination affirms the enormous positive impact our Center has had on USAF expeditionary operations. It's an acknowledgement that airpower must be built from the ground up through innovative, relevant training programs for our expeditionary combat support airmen. According the award narrative, "the USAF EC achieved excellence in aerospace education by significantly advancing the relevance, responsiveness, and rigor of training and education for the air mobility and expeditionary combat support communities." Some of the accomplishments from the past year cited were the graduation of over 17,000 Airmen attending EC courses, both in-residence and through distance learning, and the awarding of over 26,000 Community College of the Air Force Credits. "The breadth and impact of the various accomplishments over the year demonstrated the diverse missions within the EC," said Chief Master Sgt. Fitz Hentz, the Center's command chief master sergeant. "Areas recognized by AMC included innovations within the Installation Deployment Officer course as well as the Center's senior leader training operations that have borne out real-world successes in the theater to expeditionary combat support courses such as Raven, (Fly Away Security Team) training, and Combat Airmen Skills Training that prepare our Airmen for taskings that put them in harm's way." The EC graduated over 400 theater-level Air Mobility Division personnel who planned and executed 46,000 airlift and 16,000 air refueling missions, representing over 60 percent of all Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom sorties. Improved tactics and sortie management training enabled Air Forces Central to meet a 300 percent increase for joint airdrop requirements supporting troop surges in the logistically challenging Afghanistan theater. Additionally, the Center stood up a Tactics, Techniques and Procedures division to collect and distribute TTPs and lessons learned to students as well as Airmen and sister service partners downrange. This division's efforts proved so successful that the Center then increased its mission, leading to the creation of the 422nd Joint Tactics Squadron. "This recognition just continues to affirm the great work our team is doing for the Air Force and the nation. "I'm so proud of our team--we've got our fingers crossed to win at the national level," General Devereaux said.